Hello Curious Reader. This is my first blog post. Ever.

Words & Beer, as the name conveniently implies, will include both words and beer. Well, not actual beer. But Words & Words About Beer doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

My general goal with this blog is to share some of my thoughts about beer. With every new post I hope to provide a comprehensively vague review of a different beer. This should not be a problem, as I drink a fair amount of beer. Like a county fair amount of beer! Wow. Mark that down as the first pathetic excuse for a joke on this blog. At least they can only get better from here on out.

New posts will often include a few non-beer-related words as well. I am embarking on a likely unsuccessful career as a writer, so I will include everything from short stories about breakfast meats to naïve political diatribes. Along the way, please remember that I don’t take myself seriously. Neither should you.

I am new to this blogging thing, so I may rely on you, Curious Reader, for advice on blogging etiquette and style. For instance, when I do include a bit of non-beer content, should I lead with the beer review and hope that you are so captivated by my command of the English language that you have no choice but to read on? Or should I take the M. Night Shyamalan approach and put all the crap out there first in order to finish strong? I think, as this is my first post, it would be best to keep things simple. Just beer on this one. Here goes.

Session Lager – Full Sail Brewing Company, Hood River, Oregon

For two years now this has been my ‘I just mowed the lawn and I smell like a Yeti’ summer beer of choice. Exceptionally refreshing and enjoyable even when ice cold, Session provides a nice break from the standard high-malt, high-hops and high-alcohol beers typically offered by Oregon craft brewers. Don’t get me wrong, I love damn near all of those high-malt, high-hops and high-alcohol beers. But this light, straw-colored brew just begs for five or six hours of sweaty, sun-baked back-porch-BBQ time. I used more hyphens in this paragraph than in everything else I have previously written.

Not only is this beer BBQ and hyphen friendly, but my wife loves it as well. I like to involve my wife in my drinking, as this counts as ‘Family Time’ and can sometimes get me out of those joyous trips to the bead store. I hate beads.

My aforementioned wife is German and she is convinced that Session is as close to a true German Helles as any American brewer could possibly get. I am a bit dubious, as I have yet to taste every American brewer’s attempt at a German Helles, but, alas, she is persuasive. I will agree. Session has the light color and full-bodied flavor indicative of Bavarian Helles, but unfortunately it comes in a much smaller package. Eleven ounces per bottle, to be exact. But don’t let that missing ounce deter you, Curious Reader. I am planning a grassroots reimbursement campaign that involves thousands of Seven-Eleven receipts and individually wrapped, Federal Expressed bottles of this delicious nectar. One way or another, we will get our twelfth ounce.


Initial music pairing – The Wood Brothers – Ways Not to Lose

This isn’t really fair. I knew the first time that I heard this album that it would go great with my favorite summer beer. It does. Buy some Session, buy this album and be happy. If you can’t get your hands on a twelver of these little babies, buy the album and drink something else. You will only be half as miserable as the poor bastard with a six-pack of Hamm’s and an AM radio.